Environmental fractionation of PCBs and PBDEs during particle transport as recorded by sediments in coastal waters.

Paul B C Grant, Sophia C Johannessen, Robie W Macdonald, Mark B Yunker, Michael Sanborn, Neil Dangerfield, Cynthia Wright, Peter S Ross

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, British Columbia, Canada.

Environmental toxicology and chemistry / SETAC 2011 Jul

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The Strait of Georgia (British Columbia, Canada) is a hydrologically complex inland sea with a rich abundance and diversity of species of aquatic life. Marine sediments, as both a sink for hydrophobic contaminants and a potential source for aquatic food webs, were collected from 41 sites throughout the 6,900-km(2) Strait of Georgia. The congener-specific concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), including BDE-209, were measured. Urban harbors represented hotspots for both PCBs and PBDEs, whereas PBDEs were also found at high concentrations near municipal outfalls. Patterns of PCB distribution were consistent with historical point source emissions in urban areas and environmental distillation toward lighter profiles in remote sites over time. The single congener BDE-209 dominated the PBDEs, accounting for 52% of the average total concentration. However, nonurban deep-water sediment PBDE profiles were both heavier and had higher concentration-weighted average log K(OW) (octanol-water partition coefficient) values compared to shallow samples (percent BDE-209 of total PBDE, 66 versus 32%; log K(OW) , 9.5 versus 8.2, respectively). Collectively, our results suggest that although source signals largely explain PCB and PBDE hotspots in the Strait of Georgia, the combination of physicochemical properties and environmental processes drive divergent compositional fates for the PCBs and the heavier PBDEs in the sediments of the Strait of Georgia. Copyright © 2011 SETAC.

Citation

Paul B C Grant, Sophia C Johannessen, Robie W Macdonald, Mark B Yunker, Michael Sanborn, Neil Dangerfield, Cynthia Wright, Peter S Ross. Environmental fractionation of PCBs and PBDEs during particle transport as recorded by sediments in coastal waters. Environmental toxicology and chemistry / SETAC. 2011 Jul;30(7):1522-32